SUNDAY saw Fakenham RFC Minis travel to their first festival of the season hosted by West Norfolk RFC U12: Selected in Pool A the first match of the day was exceedingly tight.

SUNDAY saw Fakenham RFC Minis travel to their first festival of the season hosted by West Norfolk RFC

U12: Selected in Pool A the first match of the day was exceedingly tight. Wymondham scored just one converted try in the first few minutes and then set about defending their lead. Fakenham tried all avenues, including a four-man battering ram, to break through the defences but Wymondham held firm. Score: Wymondham 7, Fakenham 0.

After this Fakenham had a rush of blood and returned the favour against Norwich. Some crunching tackles from our boys kept the score at Fakenham 7, Norwich 0.

North Walsham were the next opponents. They went on to the final but only managed to score one unconverted try against a very determined Fakenham side. North Walsham 5, Fakenham 0.

Fakenham then played Swaffham, runners-up from Pool B, and managed to come out on top. Fakenham 7, Swaffham 0.

U10: Fakenham and Swaffham entered as a Barbarian team with John, James and Brendon representing Fakenham. The two teams jelled well together and had a storming start winning their first game. Unfortunately the other teams were too strong and they were unable to maintain their winning ways. A fantastic partnership is growing between the two teams and will be training and playing together all season.

U9: Fakenham U9 travelled with a full squad to West Norfolk for their first taste of contact festival rugby. Their first game against Swaffham started well and their defence held Swaffham off scoring until the last minute of the first half. In the second half Swaffham found their form and by good team work managed to break through Fakenham's defence several times.

Then it was straight into their next match against North Walsham where an organised side ran through our defences and closed us down quickly when on the attack. Having a break before our final match meant that the coaches were able to refocus the players to work to their strengths. The final game against West Norfolk was a harder-fought contest with great support play and superb tackling leading to three tries from Luke West just pipped us at the post by winning five tries to three.

U8: We played a mixed Babas's team of Fakenham and Swaffham U8. Callum, Archie and Gregor of Fakenham and Ethan, Ellis, Iuan and Arnie of Swaffham. We played three matches. The first against North Walsham, it was a very fast paced game and we managed to close them down several times but Walsham's pace proved the better. In the end the score did not reflect how well they played.

We then played Ely in another difficult game. Try as we might Ely were all over us. Ely scored their first try within the first 30 seconds of the game opening a flood of tries which we valiantly tried to halt. A couple of tries on both sides were disallowed for diving rather than staying on their feet.

Finally we played the West Tigers which was another fast game the and the Baba's held their own very well giving the West Tigers a few scares up on their own try line.

All in all the Fakenham/Swaffham Baba team played very well together and were a credit to both clubs.

Having played in very close and hard-fought games we take away a lot of positives and now have a few things to work on before travelling to Holt on November 1.